Politically speaking, Oyo state must be commended for starting its own Independent Power Project (IPP) and we call on other sub-nationals to emulate this positive step in order to make electricity supply available and accessible to Nigerians.

States in Nigeria have no reasons anymore to shy away from the issues of electricity as the effort of the Oyo state government at building its own power project is in tandem with the fulfilment of the content of the Fifth Alteration Bill No.33, Devolution of Powers (National Grid System) that migrated the issue of power generation, transmission and distribution from the exclusive list to the concurrent list.

The Oyo State Independent Power Project (IPP) has a generation capacity of 11MW comprising of 10MW gas-fired machines and a 1MW PV solar solution and is located in the Oyo state Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

The ground-breaking ceremony for this IPP was carried out by Governor Seyi Makinde on Saturday, 11 December, 2021 with an estimated completion date of Q2 2024.

The Governor disclosed in his speech that upon completion, this project will serve as the main source for the hybrid power system of the “Light Up” Oyo project and also meet the energy needs of several infrastructural facilities in Oyo state, which include the State Secretariat and government facilities within; 12 health facilities, including the Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital and the state Hospital Ring Road; the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba; the Judicial complexes at Iyaganku and Ring Road; the Oyo state House of Assembly; plus a selection of schools within a defined catchment from the generation plant at the State Secretariat; the Moniya Business District (as an attempt to boost the expansion of the state’s economic base).

It was also revealed that the state is developing rural electrification projects and seeking investors in the energy sector in its bid to provide alternative power supply sources in Oyo state and to meet the energy needs of Oyo state citizens through a hybrid approach.

One unique feature of the steps taken at improving power supply in Oyo state is the adoption of a hybrid power system, which points to a diversified generation mix.  

In addition to the above-mentioned efforts to improve power supply, the state should deepen the existing cooperation with both Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to achieve better and faster results in that direction.  

This would surely be an additional source of revenue generation for states in Nigeria that are presently battling with very low Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) as they can indulge in cross border electricity trading.

We therefore call on more sub-nationals to emulate this laudable move by Oyo State and establish their own power stations to complement the quantity of power supply they are currently receiving from the national grid.